Healthy behaviors for all - powered by science
Program support: Joske Nauta
Contact: aph.hbcd@amsterdamumc.nl
Mission and goals
Chronic (non-communicable) diseases -mainly diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer- account for the majority of total disease burden worldwide. These chronic diseases are largely preventable by promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are shaped by a complex interplay of factors; conditions in which people are born, grow up, live, work, age and individual features. Promoting healthy behaviors requires multifactorial interventions in the complexity of real-life settings. Interventions should both address the environment and the individual, and therefore demand close collaboration between a broad range of disciplines.
The goal of the HB&CD research program is to create, disseminate and exchange knowledge on health-related behaviors and interventions. We focus particularly on the mechanisms shaping these behaviors, their impact on health, and health promotion strategies. In doing so, we aim to reduce the burden of chronic diseases and related functional limitations, and improve quality of life/wellbeing. In line with our motto: "healthy behaviors for all - powered by science", we prioritize groups with a high risk of developing chronic diseases across the life course, including lower socio-economic and ethnic minority groups.
Program Leaders
Research themes
The health behaviors covered within HB&CD include alcohol use, dietary behavior, physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep and smoking. The chronic diseases covered within HB&CD include, but are not limited to, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Our research centers around:
- the distribution of health behaviors across the population and changes over time;
- the determinants of health behaviors, including individual, environmental and genomic factors;
- the measurement of health behaviors;
- the impact of health behaviors on chronic diseases and functioning/quality of life/wellbeing;
- the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions promoting healthy behaviors.
There is a strong focus on maximizing the societal relevance of research, and to achieve this we closely collaborate with actors in the public health domain such as the Municipal Health Service in Amsterdam. We aim to apply a participatory approach, involving end-users in the development of interventions and research projects with a strong focus on potential for wider implementation.
Special Interest Groups
Various Special Interest Groups are active within the HB&CD research program. Each of these groups has a different focus, and a brief description of their main objectives is provided below.
Geoscience and Health Cohort Consortium
The Geoscience and Health Cohort Consortium ( GECCO) is a Dutch infrastructure to support researchers to study the relation between environmental characteristics and health. In GECCO, fine-scale objectively measured social and physical environmental data are linked to individual-level data from more than 20 (longitudinal) cohort studies across the Netherlands. GECCO is coordinated by Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, and governed by a steering group with representatives of all the GECCO-affiliated institutes.
Contact: Jeroen Lakerveld: j.lakerveld@amsterdamumc.nl
Participatory Research and Co-creation
This Special Interest Group aims to create an overview of the range of currently used participatory research approaches and methods within HB&CD, and wishes to connect researchers for the promotion of knowledge- and experience exchange. Two main goals of the group are; (1) starting-up a consensus project on terminology, and (2) working on guidelines for conducting and reporting participatory research.
Contact: aph.participatory@amsterdamumc.nl
Systems thinking and public health
This Special Interest Group aims to further build expertise on systems science in public health, which is currently limited, by fostering cooperation between HB&CD researchers on the theory and analytics of the systems science approach. All HB&CD researchers who have an interest in the systems science approach can participate.
Contact: aph.systems@amsterdamumc.nl
Program council
The program leaders of the Health Behaviors & Chronic Disease research program chair the HB&CD Program Council. This program council consist of a selection of senior researchers of the research program who meet regularly to implement or update the research program-specific strategy and to discuss anticipatory or reactive response to external events.
Program council members | |
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Teatske Altenburg | Bas van den Putte |
Ingeborg Brouwer | Joreintje Mackenbach |
Wilma Waterlander |
Medior council
The Health Behaviors & Chronic Diseases research program has a medior council. The aim of the medior council is to create a group of peers amongst whom medior researchers can hold inter-vision, lectures, or organize workshops about issues particularly relevant to those in their mid-career. The typical medior researcher has obtained a PhD and is already working for some years as a post-doc or assistant professor. But anyone who considers him or herself to be a medior is welcome to join.
Medior council members | |
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Coosje Dijkstra | Wilma Waterlander |
Femke van Nassau |
Junior council
The Health Behaviors & Chronic Disease research program has installed a HB&CD Junior Council that provides program leaders with solicited and unsolicited advice and helps them with the organization of research program-specific activities or events.
Junior council members | |
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Iris Koelmans | Judith Visser |
Thao Minh Lam | Jelle Arts |
Gaia Segantin |
Research program members
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Ageeth HofsteengeDR.IR.
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Aiarpi Ezdoglian
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Amber BootsMSc
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Amber Koert
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Amber van der HeijdenPhD
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Amika SinghDR.
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Amy van der Heijden
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Angie Luna PinzonMSc
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Anita RavelliMEng PhD
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Anja de KruifDRS.
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Anja Huizink
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Anne Roos van der Endt
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Annelinde Lettink
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Annemarie Reilingh
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Annemijn de Ruigh
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Annette MollPI PROF.DR.
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Anouk Driessen
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Anton KunstPI Prof. PhD
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Ardine de Wit
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Bagas Wicaksono
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Barbara HuttenPI MSc PhD
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Bedra Horreh
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Ben van Nieuwenhuizen
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Bianca Strooij
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Bibian van der Voorn
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Bonnie Maria van Dongen
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Bram Hoogerheide
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Brittany Boerstra
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Bryn Hummel
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Carry Renders
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Charles Hayfron-Benjamin
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Charlotte van TuijnBSc MSc
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Christel de Raaff
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Claudia Dictus
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D RietveldPI PhD
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Daniella Brals
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Danique Heemskerk
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Donna Beerda
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Donny Kreuger
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Elias ThomasMA
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Eline Meuleman
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Elke Vlemincx
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Eric Moll van CharantePI Prof. MD PhD
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Erik BeuneMSc PhD
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Erik van Spronsen
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Esmé EgginkMSc
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Esmé Kamphuis
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Eva Leistra
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Eva Sugeng
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Eva van der LindenMD
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Evert VerhagenPI PROF.DR.
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Femke RuttersDR. Associate professor, Principal Investigator and Principal Educator
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Femke van NassauDr. DR.
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Fenna EbbensPhD
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Fiona Hagenbeek
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Frank SnoekPI PROF.DR.
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Frederique Rongen
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Frouke Kingma
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Giel NijpelsPI PROF.DR.
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Gillroy Fraser
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Gioia Nydia MuruMSC.
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Gonneke WillemsenProf.
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Hamideh Jahanbakhsh
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Han KemperPROF.DR.
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Hanan Bozhar
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Hanneke Wijnhoven
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Hans de VriesPI Prof. PhD
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Haykanush Ohanyan
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Heike GarritsenMSc
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Helga EmkeMSc. BSc.
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Henrike Galenkamp
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Henrike Galenkamp - van der PloegPhD
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Hidde van der PloegPI DR.
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Hilde van der AaPhD.
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Huib van Waegeningh
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IHM Steenhuis
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Ilja ReintenMSc
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Indra Melessen
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Inge de Wolf
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Ingeborg Brouwer
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Irene van ValkengoedPI PhD
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Iris Koelmans
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Irma Huiberts
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J Halberstadt
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Jaap Seidell
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Jacqueline HugtenburgPI DR.
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Jan willem Kallewaard
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Jelle Arts
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Jelmer van SchoonhovenMSc
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Jennifer CoffengDR.
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Jenny Marks-VieveenDRS.
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Jenny Schnyder
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Jeroen LakerveldPI DR.
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Jesper Knoop
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Jesse van den Berg
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Jesse Vargas
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Jiska EmbayeMSC.
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Johan van LimbergenPI
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Joline BeulensPI PROF.DR.IR.
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Joreintje MackenbachPI DR.
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Jos TwiskPI PROF.DR.
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Joshua van Apeldoorn
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Josine StuberMSc. BSc.
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Jouke Jan Hottenga
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Judith Visser
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Karien StronksPI Prof. PhD
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Karin SwartDR.
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Karolina SzadekDR.
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Katja van den HurkPI DR.
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Katri Sääksjärvi
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Katrina Messiha
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Kris Hage
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Kunshan Goh
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Lars Verkleij
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Laura BelmonMSC.
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Laura Schaap
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Lenka GroeneveldMSC.
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Leto Demetriadou
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Lies ter Beek
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Liffert VogtPI Prof. MD PhD
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Loes CrielaardPhD
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Lotte de BoerBSc
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Luc Hagenaars
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Maarten Barendrecht
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Maartje van StralenDR.
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Mai Chin A PawPI PROF.DR.
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Mandy SpaanPhD
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Manou Anselma
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Margreet Harskamp-van GinkelMSC.
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Margreet Olthof
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Marieke BlomPhD
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Marieke de GierDRS.
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Marieke Hoevenaar - BlomPhD
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Marjolein VisserPROF.DR.
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Marlinde van Dijk
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Marthe Mansour
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Martijn StuiverDR.
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Martina Pontesilli
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Martina Pontesilli
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Mary NicolaouPhD
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Mathilde KarstenMEng
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MC Adriaanse
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Megan Astley
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Melanie HafdiMD MSc
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Meredith Overman
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Mimouna AkhmouchDRS.
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Mirte KuipersPI PhD
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Mirthe MuilwijkPhD.
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Mohamed Ahmed
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Monique SteegersPI PROF.DR.
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Nessa Millet
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Nicole den BraverMSC. PhD
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Nicole van den Bogerd
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Nikita Hensen
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Noekie van LieshoutMSc
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Noreen Siddiqui
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Oriol Bonell MonsonísMSC.
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Patrick BrienesseMEng PhD
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Paula Sterkenburg
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Peter HarmsMSc
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Petra EldersPI PROF.DR.
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Philip Dijkhorst
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Rebecca Painter
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Reinoldus GemkePI PROF.DR.
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René Pool
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Renee BolijnMSc
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Rixt Smit
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Robin Smits
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Roderick Slieker
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Romain Meer
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Romy Slebe
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Rosa WoudaMSc
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Sabine van Oort
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Sabrina WeltenMSC.
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Sandra KooijProf. PROF.DR.
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Sandra Simons
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Sanne Kremers
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Sanne VeldmanDR.
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Sara Rachdan
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Sarah van Eeghen
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Saskia Boonzajer FlaesMSC.
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Saskia Duijs
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Sharjeel Muhammed
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Sharon RemmelzwaalDR.
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Sidney RubinsteinMSC.
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Sietske Luijten
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Siham BoucharebDRS.
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Sophie Campman
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Stijn Hogervorst
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Susanne de RooijPI PhD
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Taetske AltenburgPI DR. Associate professor
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Tanja VrijkottePI PhD
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Taryn Vosters
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Taymara AbreuMSC.
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Tessa Klarenbeek
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Tessa RoseboomPI Prof. PhD
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Tessa van Deelen
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Tessa van Gastel
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Thao Minh LamMSc.
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Tim van de GriftDR.